Chatsworth
Apr. 12th, 2011 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienAfter the warm weather at the weekend, I was afraid that if we waited until after Easter to go looking at azaleas in the Chatsworth House gardens it would be too late, so we went today.
It turned out to be much too early for azaleas and rhododendrons, except for a few here and there, but there were daffodils of all shapes and sizes, and camellias in the greenhouses (including the 1970s Display House, the first two sections of which are now open), and green leaves, and plum blossom, and pheasants skulking in the undergrowth, and tulips and magnolias and intriguing wicker sculptures, and vistas that aren't really visible in the summer. It wasn't very warm, but it was mostly sunny, and we we had a very pleasant day.
Unfortunately the front of the house facing the Canal Pond is currently swathed in scaffolding and plastic sheeting, which rather spoils the classic view. Enterprisingly, they're offering the chance to climb up to a "viewing gallery" on the scaffolding for 4 quid, but we did not avail ourselves.
Also, for some reason there were large yellow rubber ducks at all the strategic points in the gardens -- perched on Flora's head, the roof of the Cascade House, and half way up the Wellington waterfall, floating in the Canal Pond ...
Flickr slide show.
It turned out to be much too early for azaleas and rhododendrons, except for a few here and there, but there were daffodils of all shapes and sizes, and camellias in the greenhouses (including the 1970s Display House, the first two sections of which are now open), and green leaves, and plum blossom, and pheasants skulking in the undergrowth, and tulips and magnolias and intriguing wicker sculptures, and vistas that aren't really visible in the summer. It wasn't very warm, but it was mostly sunny, and we we had a very pleasant day.
Unfortunately the front of the house facing the Canal Pond is currently swathed in scaffolding and plastic sheeting, which rather spoils the classic view. Enterprisingly, they're offering the chance to climb up to a "viewing gallery" on the scaffolding for 4 quid, but we did not avail ourselves.
Also, for some reason there were large yellow rubber ducks at all the strategic points in the gardens -- perched on Flora's head, the roof of the Cascade House, and half way up the Wellington waterfall, floating in the Canal Pond ...
Flickr slide show.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-13 09:08 am (UTC)By gum, the birds were obliging, and I'm surprised that the narcissi were still out... Love the basketwork sculpture.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-13 09:31 am (UTC)Here in Sheffield the yellow daffodils are mostly over, but the later types of narcissus are still going strong. Chatsworth seems to be a week or two behind us -- more of their tulips were in bud than open.
The birds were unusually co-operative, yes. That goose wasn't going anywhere, which made it easier -- and the 12x zoom on the Canon came into its own. (The robin is cropped; it was twenty feet or so away, I think, but at least it was facing the right way.)